This section provides background information to facilitate a better understanding of the various aspects of the disclosure. It should be understood that the statements in this section of this document are to be read in this light, and not as admissions of prior art.
In agriculture, use is made of what are known as round balers for pressing stalk-like harvested material into bales. To this end, the harvested material is conveyed into the baling chamber and compressed to form a cylindrical bale by pressing means, for example baler belts, surrounding said baling chamber, said bale being discharged onto the field when a predetermined size has been reached. Such round balers are known for example from DE 10 2011 003 727 A1, from U.S. Pat. No. 5,415,013 A1 and from EP 2 695 512 A1.
The baler belts are configured in a continuously closed manner and extend parallel to one another. The baler belts can be produced in an open manner and then closed in a form-fitting manner by means of mechanical connecting elements, see for example U.S. Pat. No. 5,415,013 A1. Limits of about 300 mm belt width are imposed on this type of connection because wider baler belts can be controlled only with great difficulty within the round baler on account of irregular force distributions in the baler belt. Wider baler belts are therefore produced in a manner wound in a closed manner, see for example US 2008/0105517 A1. A plurality of baler belts that extend parallel to one another are usual in a round baler, see for example DE 10 2011 003 727 A1 or EP 2 695 512 A1, or else an individual baler belt.
Since the gaps in the longitudinal direction between the individual baler belts can result in losses of the baling material, development is moving toward the use of as few baler belts as possible in a round baler. These are configured in a correspondingly wide manner and can then be produced only as continuous belts for the abovementioned reasons. Therefore, usually one, two or three continuously wound baler belts are currently used in round balers.
Baler belts can be damaged in use and even tear, with the result that the use of the round baler can be interrupted. A continuously wound baler belt can then be optionally repaired by means of cold vulcanization, although this requires appropriate equipment which can be complex and expensive. This type of repair can also require the removal and installation of the baler belt and it can take up to 24 hours to carry out the cold vulcanization. If a continuously wound baler belt is intended to be replaced, this also results in a long time requirement of usually up to one day. In both cases, such measures can usually be carried out only by trained specialist personnel, this further increasing the complexity, the time delay and the costs.